Images of the First Linux-Based Palm OS Appear

Last week, PalmSource revealed new details on the next version of the Palm OS, code-named ACCESS Linux Platform (ALP).

As it’s name suggests, this will be the first Linux-based version of this operating system.

PalmSource also demonstrated a prototype of ALP at the 3GSM conference, and Mobile-review.com was able to get a few pictures.

It should be emphasized that this is a fairly early prototype and may be subject to change.

The first image shows what might be a new application launcher with large icons.

It also includes something that is in almost all these pictures, a bar running across the top of the screen giving the time, Bluetooth status, battery level, etc.

A second image apparently demonstrates ALP’s ability to run applications written for previous versions of the Palm OS, in this case the Memo Pad.

A third picture is simply of ALP displaying a version of the old Mine Field game, while the fourth is of an audio player.

Task Switcher?

Possibly the most interesting part of the fourth picture is the status bar. This has a number of icons not in previous images. These appear to be for a email application, an audio player, a Home button, and a few others.

It’s only speculation, but this might be the way ALP will handle switching between currently running applications.

This will be the first version of the Palm OS to offer concurrent multi-tasking, so PalmSource’s developers need to come up with an easy way to handle changing to an application running in the background.

On the other hand, the icons in the bar could simply be standard ones for commonly used tasks.

Code-Name Confusion

PalmSource has come up with code-names for different aspects of this project, and it’s possible there might some confusion.

ACCESS Linux Platform (ALP) is the code-name for the entire upcoming operating system.

MAX is the code-name for the user-interface that PalmSource is developing for ALP.

It is not yet known when the final name for this version of the Palm OS will be announced.